1 . The path to pottery(制陶)was far from direct for Kaley Black. Her first _________ was as a producer in the film industry, a role she found unfulfilling. While living in Poland, Blank _________ a routine of regularly visiting a cafe, passing a ceramics(陶艺)studio on her way. _________ she had no exposure and training in running a business or ceramics, each trip past the studio awakened her curiosity closer to _________.

After returning to the US, Blank _________ a six-week pottery course. Then, she bought her own pottery tools. By the spring of 2022, Blank had _________ her skills and opened her own studio, Blank Ceramics, which is now her career.

Blank _________ how our ancestors viewed ceramics as both an art and a tool. This means that she always makes sure the _________ use of her pieces comes first in their design. For her, pottery is special because it involves using a skill from the past to _________ art from nature. She gets her clay __________ from the ground, just like her ideas for new art. “Handma de pottery is one of the first human skills,” explains Blank. “It feels so fulfilling to learn skills, as well as to __________ stories and art.”

In addition to being available for __________ online, Blank’s finished pottery can also be bought at shops offline. As she considers how her studio might __________, Blank has a wide perspective: “A ceramic piece that has been fired will last forever; it doesn’t fade over time. My work will far __________ me, which I find truly fascinating. It keeps me __________ and intentional about what pieces I create.”

2 . My father, Paul Andrew Figura, was a die-hard fisherman. In my _______, we went out fishing in all kinds of weather, catching and missing nearly every fish in countless waterways.

Whenever we _______, Mom would ask: “What time will you be back?” “When we can’t see the _______.” Dad would respond. He often _______ it. Sometimes Dad would ask me to _______ some food and water and we’d fish the entire day. I observed firsthand his insistent, rapid-ire casting technique, to which he credited as a _______ factor behind his success. It was one _______ after another after another.

The greatest life lesson that Dad taught me involved dealing with those times when the fish weren’t _______ Days when the weather was awful, when the mosquitoes were biting, when my hands were cold. Times when I just wanted to _______ and go home. Dad’s ________? “Son, you’re not going to catch any fish unless you ________ your line. Keep casting,” he’d say.

I learned early the importance of ________ and willingness to keep trying different fish food if you wanted to catch them. Sooner or later they’d ________. I took that same attitude into my school work. ________, I got many awards at college. I applied it ________ to whatever job I had as an adult and it made me the person that I am today.

4 . Over the years, I have learned that God refines our spirits not only through great challenges but also through everyday ________ and simple moments. I got another ________ of this just the other day at the grocery store.

It was a chilly and ________ day and all I wanted to do was grab my stuff and go home. As I hurried towards the store ________. I saw a little, old lady ________ with age, walking slowly in the rain with a stick in her hand. I didn’t stop to speak with her,________, but hurried on into the store. Later as I was pushing my car t ________through the aisles (过道) I saw her again in a motorized car t carefully ________ out of other people’s way. Again I ________ her and hurried on.

Thankfully, God in His infinite Love gave me a third ________. As I was ready to leave, I saw her again, sitting in her cart ________ sadly at the boxes she couldn’t even reach if she was standing. This time I stopped and asked if I could help her. She gave me the most ________ smile and pointed to a box on the top shelf. I stretched up and ________ it for her. Then we talked for a few minutes, two souls ________ in a beautiful way, until we said “goodbye”. As I was leaving the store, I smiled and thanked God for giving me enough chances to finally get it ________.

5 . In 2012, Laura Eshelman was in the middle of a mental health crisis. The love of her life had just ________ her, and worse still, she was having trouble finding _________.

“I was leaving a business where I had yet another job application ________. I was feeling pretty down and decided to go to the Whole Foods,” Eshelman said.

As she crossed the street, Eshelman noticed a man ________ money on the corner. His ________ hair and clothing made it seem like he’d been living outside for a while. She watched as he asked a passer-by for ________, but was ignored.

“And as I ________, he turned his attention to me, and again asked if he could have a little bit of money. I don’t remember what my ________ was to him, and I’m glad that I don’t remember. Because whatever I said was very ________.”

Eshelman continued into the grocery store. But as she walked down the aisles, she noticed herself feeling ________. “I suddenly realized how rude and awful I had been to this person,” Eshelman left her groceries behind and ________ outside to find the man, who was still on the street corner. she hurried over to him, began apologizing ________, and dug out some change that had been at the bottom of her pocket.

As she ________ him the change, the man took her hand in both of his. “And he just said, ‘It’s gonna be OK.’ And for the first time in a long time, I felt like somebody was seeing my own ________ and I started to cry. That moment on the street was one of few weak ________ in that extremely dark period of my life.” Eshelman said.

6 . One day, hundreds of people were stuck in traffic on the highway in below-freezing temperatures due to a snowstorm. With the conditions making it _________ for rescue workers to help, many were trapped overnight with no access to _________.

But one stuck driver found a _________ spot in the despair. As she was sitting in her car fearing the _________, Casey Holihan and her husband, John Noe, _________ a bread truck just ahead of them in the jam. Willing to try just about anything, they called the customer service number listed on the back of the truck and left a _________ begging for the driver to open the back and _________ bread to the hungry passengers around them. It was a last-ditch effort, and the couple wasn’t very _________ about getting a response. But to their _________ they soon received a phone call from the company’s owner, Chuck Paterakis, with the news that he was __________ the truck’s driver to open up and pass out loaves of bread from his cargo. Overjoyed by the news, Holihan and Noe __________ the truck’s driver to bring much-needed things to the cars around them.

The simple loaves of bread were surely a ray of __________ in an impossibly disturbing situation. Holihan herself calls it “one of the __________ moments” she’s ever witnessed. This company could have made a(n) __________ from the bread but instead chose to help the people around them. That is just so incredible that someone chose __________ over profit, especially in a situation where people were so desperate.

7 . A Maryland couple stranded (滞留) without food in the freezing cold on a Virginia highway. They were getting ________ and more discouraged by the minute.

After almost 21 hours of being ________ on 95 South, Casey and her husband John slept there overnight and not ________ access to food or water. At that time, they ________ a Schmidt Baking Co. truck ahead of them in the standstill. “People around us were very much ________. Many of them had small children, some were elderly and hadn’t eaten in almost a whole day. ” In a desperate bid for a ________, they decided to call the Schmidt Bakery and see if it could help ________ some much-needed food for them, as well as their fellow highway captives.

“I didn’t think it would ________ work,” said Casey, who left a message with customer service. But to their ________, 20 minutes later, they actually got a ________ from Chuck Paterakis, the owner of the bakery. He told them to walk over to the truck driver, Ron, who was given the go-ahead to start handing out ________ to 50 motorists. Then, the couple joined the driver in making ________. Soon, others joined the effort, in which some 300 loaves were ________.

“It felt incredible just hearing people say thank you and hearing them so ________ to finally have food in their car. This was one of the ________ moments I have ever witnessed.” recalled Casey.

8 . I’ve always loved horses, but for years my riding took a back seat to my four kids’ soccer games, dance recitals and so on. As my children became more _______,I decided it was time to put myself _______the calendar, not always being at the beck and call of my family.

I have a work-to-ride rent at a nearby stable (马厩). As soon as I arrive at the stable, I always _______ to take a deep breath or two, inhaling the sweetness of freshly mown hay (干草). Then I go for a joyride. Sometimes, I’m_______by a friend and other times I ride solo, but it’s always a reset and _______ of my batteries for another week in the real world.

One day, as I wiped off my bridle (马笼头), my friend Mary asked with sad eyes, “Did you hear about Heather? She _______ her son last week.”

“No, how awful! Heather’s son is around my age.” I murmured.

“Yes, it’s tragic,” she said. “I _______to her yesterday. She seemed okay despite everything.”

“Yesterday? She was out here?”

“She and her grandsons went for a trail _______. This is the best place to be when you need to _______real life,” Mary commented knowingly.

I nodded ________. Mary’s husband had just ________a horrible disease, and whenever she wasn’t taking care of him, she was here to take care of herself. We all ________ various levels of heart-hurt on a daily basis. Our stable is pure________— from worry, frustration, hurt, even unimaginable loss.

Relief from real life. We all need it, somewhere, somehow, because life is ________. I’m so glad I’ve found that horse time can make the hardest landings a little ________.

9 . Everyone has a different way of showing how much they love their family members. When you see the beautiful and ________ “safety bed” a man made for his autistic (自闭症) grandson, you can’t help but feel the depth of his love!

In a video that has gone viral, the ________ grandpa Reddor shows off the custom bed he ________for his 3-year-old grandson. “Some kids with autism and other ________ need a safety bed to keep them safe and contained”. He mentions that he keeps his grandson’s well-being in mind while making the bed a(n) ________ environment with sweet pictures depicting Winnie the Pooh (维尼熊) and friends. He also ________ that the bed is on wheels, so it can be ________ to change the sheets and clean underneath.

To ensure that this bed would be safe in the event of an emergency, Reddor even ________ with the local fire department who familiarized themselves with the bed and gave their ________ throughout the design process. The grandpa even ________ a wrestling mat to prevent self-harm, and a Bluetooth sound system, adjustable LED lighting, and double-monitoring cameras.

The response to the safety bed has been overwhelmingly ________. His grandson was so excited when he first saw it that he cried.

Obviously, no two autistic people’s experiences or needs are the same, but this grandpa made sure what he built was just ________ for his grandson. Just as one netizen wrote in a ________, “Your grandson may not currently have the capacity to fully ________ your efforts, but I do hope he’ll eventually show his ________ to you for this beautiful thing you made for him! ”

10 . Even with the heated water splashing on my shoulders, a chill (寒意) still ran through me. My son was swimming _______ along the bottom of the pool. He surfaced and said, “I’ll show you how to swim underwater.”Usually I was a(n) _______ student, but not this time.

I just couldn’t trust my body to _______.My anxious mind would not let go. Over the years, I had learned not to sink, but I had never found the _______ of swimming that came easily to my friends. Self-doubt hardened into a _______:I couldn’t swim underwater.

But my son George wouldn’t _______ this. “Can you try?” His waiting face was open with possibility. I thought of the_______ things we had asked of him. The days I left him at preschool, he wept bitterly as I _______.The times he bared his arm for shots from the doctor. Earlier times in pools when he, too, _______ deep water.

I couldn’t say no. “Try to swim to me. It’s not very far.” he said, ________ above the water.His voice,calm and encouraging,   ________ me. “When I count to three, you start, OK?” I didn’t move. “Let’s try again,” he said in his teacher voice. “One, two, three!”

After more false starts, I knew I must ________.I sucked in air, squeezed my eyes shut, and aimed like a torpedo (鱼雷) into the dark. I traveled ________ in this liquid world, just pushing forward. I ________ my breath until I couldn’t anymore. I burst up into cool air. “I did it!” I said, tears of ________ streaming down my smiling face.George smiled too. “Now,” he continued, “try to go a little farther.”

I swam farther.I swam.